quick question about a grey area on my "criminal record"

September 6th, 2013, 12:42 PM

Im 31 & very interested to see if i qualify for enlistment but i have a question pertaining to my teen years.

I had a trespassing charge when i was 16. i was never arrested or fingerprinted just put on probabtion. i was told my "record" was expunged when i turned 18. So would this still show up on a FBI backround check? i feel i should mention it so they could check to see if anything did exist.

Apologies for beating a dead horse. i figured my situation was different since i wasnt arrested or fingerprinted.

You don't get put on probation without being charged with something. If you were charged with something then you were arrested, even if they never made it look like an arrest (handcuffs) Records also don't automatically expunge themself. They may be automatically dismissed at the conclusion of probation, but not expunged.

First, you need to clearly identify what actually happened back then. You are using alot of words that in the criminal justice system that do not go together.

Comment

A National and Federal background check will be done. It will show your adult and juvenile record to include anything sealed or expunged. If this was your only law violation, you really have nothing to worry about. You should disclose all legal history to your recruiter.

Comment

A National and Federal background check will be done. It will show your adult and juvenile record to include anything sealed or expunged.

"National and Federal"

This is not really true. Offense that do not require fingerprints are not sent to the FBI CJIS division. That means when the fingerprint search is conducted it would not be revealed. Claiming that all offense will be found, even if expunged is too broad of a statement to take into consideration for the way these reporting databases actually work, and the variety of difference in legal code each state has.

Comment

Thank you, i was curious. I was charged with trespassing(misdemeanor) for "graffiti" along with some old friends of mine. i was skateboarding & wrote a band name on a wall. I talked to a detective, went to court & paid a fine along with probabtion. they never fingerprinted me or cuffed me. i will certainly disclose all information to said recruiter.

edit: I just didnt know if i mentioned it & nothing was found when said backround check was conducted would give me a problem.

This is not really true. Offense that do not require fingerprints are not sent to the FBI CJIS division. That means when the fingerprint search is conducted it would not be revealed. Claiming that all offense will be found, even if expunged is too broad of a statement to take into consideration for the way these reporting databases actually work, and the variety of difference in legal code each state has.

Local background checks are also conducted based on your residence history you provide in your enlistment packet, which would include anything even if you were not fingerprinted.

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Local background checks are also conducted based on your residence history you provide in your enlistment packet, which would include anything even if you were not fingerprinted.

You can keep trying to say this sally, but it is not accurate. In this particular scenario, the charge appears to be dismissed. If it was in fact dimissed and expunged nothing would be revealed on a local police background check. The result would come back as no record. Since the OP was not fingerprinted it also would not come back through FBI CJIS.

Additionally, depending on state, DD Form 369's that are run on an applicants local residence may only include records contained within that county.

The point I am trying to make. Is no background check reveals everything, because as I previously stated it is too broad of a statement to take into consideration for the way these reporting databases actually work, and the variety of difference in legal code each state has